Thursday, December 30, 2010

Yesterday I bought myself some much needed (i'm talkin' holes here people) socks, underwear and bras. I put them on my bed when we got home and hadn't gotten around to unpacking them yet when it was time for Grant to take a "rest" on my bed. Grant: I am not sleeping with those boobies! Apparently bras translates to boobies when you are four years old. Must be similar to the nap = rest. So...I moved the boobies and Grant's "rest" soon followed.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Dylan may have been the most excited as we heard him in his room at 1 am! They stumbled out of bed at a few minutes before 7 and

It was nice this year because we made everyone watch each other open their presents. It actually lasted almost an hour. Then my parents and sister's family came over for lunch and more presents, oh and lots of building!

And then, we finally gave my dad his present, the present to end all presents, his fathers WWII marine uniform, medals, telegrams and letters home, dog tags, a Bible inscribed by my great grandparents, and more mounted on his dad 's duffle bag in a shadow box.

He was thrilled. My aunt had it and planted the idea in our heads earlier this year. My nan was a saver and it definitely paid off for us, more than she will ever know. We passed on boxes of old pictures and letters he had written home from Vietnam and local newspapers during the WWII, his report cards and school pictures. He had never seen this stuff before and I'm sure he'll spend a lot of time reading and sorting though all of the treasures. I wished I had taken more pics but I was a little choked up. This was a very hard secret to keep!

Christmas Eve we headed over to my sisters for lunch with my mom's family. I think she said there were 31 people! It was fun and the basement was full of loud boys!

The parents took turns monitoring them, no harm done, just boys being boys. Between my one cousin and I, we supplied 6 of them :-) I did get a few moments to chat with my aunts and cousin about the good 'ol days

Before long, we heard bells and saw a man in a big red suit -Santa!

After the presents, Santa read us a book and was off and we were soon to follow as the boys had to prepare for their roles as shepherds in the church play.

Can you even stand it? They did great and we headed back to our house for dinner with Grammy and grandpa farmer.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

This house is so loud and crazy! There is yelling and wrestling and bickering and some fun too but not quite enough. It is hard to enjoy this time with all this extra nonsense going on. I am trying and praying! But Matt and I were talking tonight about the craziness and the constant noise, be it good or bad, and how soon enough it will be quiet around here and in the car and at the dinner table...and that makes me sad in a weird sort of way. So I will keep trying and praying for the wonderful Christmas scenes from movies and accept the fact that those scenes are strictly for the movies. The wonderful Christmas I will have will be spent counting my noisy blessings. Merry Christmas to you and your family and may you enjoy the noise surrounding you too!

Jack and I stopped in at cord camera the other day to pick up some pictures for a little gift project. The store is a local Gahanna store and the guys are very nice and know us and are always joking around. Jack had his DS with him and one of the guys rushed over to watch him play. He told Jack that it was his birthday and, even though he was turning 51, he had asked for a DS for his birthday. Jack quickly told him all the in's and out's of the DS world and I had to pry him out of the store and his conversation with his new friend. As soon as the door closed behind us, Jack asked if he could go and buy the guy a game for his DS. He wanted to use his money to buy it or go home and get one of his games and bring it back to the store for the guy. I told him that he didn't even have a DS yet and may not get one for his birthday, but I will check back and see if he got one in a couple of weeks and then he could bring him a game if he wanted.

That's my Jacky-boy, I am so proud of him, he is so kind hearted.

Now when we got home and Jack told his brother (I won't name names) that he was going to take a game back to the guy at cord camera, that news wasn't taken very well by said brother....I guess this house can only handle so much generosity....

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

A little advent project from my little mochi blog. It is made with dentine gum.

A trip on the polar express.

A homemade gift card holder for a Christmas gift exchange.

Candy for neighbors and teachers.

A camel for the Christmas play at church.

Snow

Sam's homemade birthday present stocked full of goodies plus a new Thomas the train. Saw it in a magazine for $34 so I decided to make one myself. I was the first one to get a cut of that new cute animal fabric at Jo ann's!

Sam is three, look at those eyes!

Sledding!

Christmas cookies tonight after play practice!I have a most wonderful project to post about but I cannot leak a word or picture until after Christmas.......I can hardly wait.......

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Earlier this week, I threw (not really) the boys in the car to drop Dylan's friend off at home and cash a check at the drive thru. While in the drive thru, the nice teller was explaining Chase's holiday program where they randomly select a customer every five minutes and pay for their purchase up to $200. It was free and he asked if I would like to sign up? Sure. Sounds easy enough right? Wrong. He said great and if I would just pull around and come in the bank to sign the paper and get my money, he would have a customer representative waiting for me....OK? No, not OK! I reluctantly pulled around. Why reluctantly you ask, well remember how I threw everyone in the car? I was in my slippers and Grant had no shoes on at all! What to do?! I decided to park in front of the glass doors and lock the boys in the car so I could see them and shuffle on into complete my transaction in my slippers :-(. It only took a few moments and no one commented on my slippers, at least not to my face. I have sunk to new lows...what's next, wearing my pj's in public? P.S. Can I just add that apparently not everyone shares in my embarrassment of wearing lounge wear in public. Have you seen the large number of people, adults, wearing pajama bottoms in public?

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Dylan's and Jack's cakes for the 'Fella's cake auction' at boy scouts. We came home with four cakes! Bad for the hips but good for the residents in need inGahanna to whom the money was donated ($1200!)

A Thanksgiving Indian who had to miss his school feast because of a fever, but that didn't stop him from wearing his dandy outfit to Thanksgiving day.

Turkey Cake pops for Thanksgiving. If you haven't checked out Bakerella, go see her amazing pops, she makes it look way easier than I found it to be :-)

Dylan's new barn cat friend, Sergeant Fluffy!

Some Thanksgiving activities, mostly indoors because of the rain, but did you see those cute trees?! Martha brought all the goodies and I got some wonderful craft time in, yea!